This Week in Anime

Conventional Gatherings

Lucas
Chris, if this unseasonably warm spring has me thinking about two things. 1) Mankind's general unpreparedness for climate change as a direct consequence of the billionaire class, who are set to be the least affected by it, 2) Convention season is right around the corner!!!

With the most exciting time of year for anime fans (and the most stressful time of year for anime professionals) on the horizon, I'd love it if we swapped stories of our own experiences at these kinds of conventions, as they can vary pretty wildly depending on the people, purpose of attendance, and the events themselves!

I don't think that I'd be able to explain the difference between TFCon and any hypothetical anime convention to the average American, so I'm more than happy to use it as a point of comparison for this discussion!

What was it like? What did you do?? What did you see???

First off, you and your partner going to TFCon for y'all's Anniversary is one of the most adorkable things I've ever heard, and I hope you both know how cute y'all are!

Second, what was it like being in a space where you could have that depth of conversation with just about everyone else at the event? I've never been to an event so singularly dedicated to one IP, so I can't even imagine what it would be like to be able to have an in-depth and opinionated conversation about this special interest with just about anyone also in attendance.

That is so wholesome! Hanging out with someone close to you at an event that's proof that media is more than just a product and that a genuine community can be formed out of the shared experiences that media creates is so pure, and I'm glad that events like this can still happen in an age where it feels like the only things that garner public attention are overt get-rich-quick schemes.

Case in point, I just realized that I deleted from my memory that I attended Collect-A-Con last year to help a relative of my fiancée sell some vintage Pokémon cards, and that Collect-A-Con is technically the smallest "convention" I've ever been to. I bleached it from my brain because this event is absolutely overflowing with the sweatiest kind of capitalism imaginable and, as folks can probably guess from the legally distinct Pokémon branding in the logo, absolutely turned me against the supposed community that's formed around an IP that meant the world to me as a kid.

I was definitely thrown into the deep end of the pool for scummy, smaller cons! I saw vendors at Collect-A-Con lining their display cases with hundred-dollar bills to try to draw further attention to the supposedly valuable pieces of cardboard within them! It really speaks to TFCon's organizers and the community built up around it that the event seems to place a premium on artists and small creators (the lifeblood of most conventions) being able to make a go of it at this event!

By comparison, most of the larger conventions I've been to (mostly in a professional capacity) instead dedicate the vast majority of their real estate and resources to giving companies and brands the chance to offload new merchandise. I've gone to Anime Expo every year since they came back from COVID. While I've had a blast every time, I'm still not used to the sheer capitalism and consumption mentalities driving much of this event.

Yeah, going to one of the big anime cons in either a personal or professional capacity is weirdly validating. I try really hard not to have any kind of chip on my shoulder about anime being spoken of derisively in mainstream spaces for most of my life, but going to a con like AX and seeing how big (and therefore important) it is does make me feel like this nerdy thing I've somehow managed to turn into a career has had an impact on the world.

And I absolutely know what you mean about how hard it is to be in a room with dozens (or even hundreds) of other people when new info or something exciting hits! This is exactly why I'm reminding people constantly at my day job that a convention panel can't just be a glorified press release. There has to be something to it that makes it feel special and stand out; you run the risk of sabotaging a PR campaign by making people feel like they paid to see something that could have been an email or Bluesky post.

To have been in the room the moment it went public that the bitches were back...I don't regret much in my life, but that would have been RAD!!!

That's also another part of smaller conventions that I deeply admire! A lot of panels at big cons are announcement-focused or led by spokespeople for a major company in this space. For me, conventions seem to be one of the few venues for presenters to do a deep dive on a topic that only this audience would care about, or speak to their personal experiences on a given project. While I haven't been to a convention outside of a work capacity in a minute, I'm much more personally inclined to go to these kinds of more unique events than fight for a seat to find out what specific products companies will be trying to sell me in the upcoming fiscal quarter.

Not to mention how the cosplay community routinely uses anime conventions to celebrate their craft via themed cosplay meet-ups or compete in it through cosplay masquerades! And, while we've talked extensively about AMVs in the past, it's my understanding that much of that community is sustained today through AMV competitions at local and regional anime conventions.

Cosplay, and AMVs to a lesser extent, in 2026, are some of the most visible, fun, introductory means into the community side of the anime sphere, and we need conventions to be a place for people to socialize and build their community around this craft to keep this pipeline going.

I understand that I'm saying this from a point of privilage as someone who contributres to a popular (this thing is popular, right?) anime column once a week, but clout chasers are a thing in every community and I'm not at all surprised to hear that folks are using AI to create panels for anime conventions, presuembly just so that they can say they presented a panel for some cred on a forum that overlaps with the given subject.

It's this same kind of sentiment that leads to people trying to sell AI-generated images at artist alleys (a growing problem in the anime convention circuit). While I'm not about to be the purity police for anime conventions or pretend that there hasn't always been a fair amount of grifting at these events since their inception, I hope that anti-AI policies become and remain universal throughout the anime convention circuit. These kinds of events only exist because of how passionate people are about given media and the communities around them, and creating AI content related to that media is about the most disingenuous way a person can engage with a creative work.

I know there's already been a bit of headache for folks in the gaming space trying to travel to the US for conventions, but between the current administration's blatant disregard for their responsibility to keep society running and everything getting more expensive, I'm also worried about what this convention season might look like.

While it's so obvious that it doesn't often merit mention, entertainment conventions are things that most people go to for fun with money that they've set aside for luxuries. As such, sparser attendance is either a recession indicator or anecdotal evidence that we're in one, and with how conservative most companies have been in their spending since COVID wrapped, I worry that convention revenue even dipping for just one season might ripple across the convention scene for years to come.

The economy is also weird right now, where a lot of people around my age have given up on ever being homeowners or escaping student debt, but are prepared to drop a couple of hundred dollars into their favorite hobby if the occasion calls for it. This kind of "little treat" economy probably isn't good or sustainable, but it at least means that creature comforts and the companies that make them are in a decent place to weather this economic uncertainty.

Conventions of any size are great at reminding people that they're not in this alone, especially when the horrors are mounting. Even just existing in this kind of third space with other people who share some version of your own passion can be an incredibly uplifting experience, and I think most folks could use a little more of that in their lives right now.

Even if I'm largely set to attend conventions in a work capacity this year, I'm already making plans to meet up with folks I largely only interact with online, and I cannot wait to connect with other folks in this community! While anime cons do have places where they could improve, most have been great about being a safe and welcoming environment for anime fans of all backgrounds, and I'm eager to experience the fullness of this space throughout the summer!

As much as I'd like to catch up with you and the TWIA crew IRL, I would never ask someone to endure Anime Expo on my behalf! Plus, with that convention somehow set to be an even bigger behemoth for me this year, I don't know if I'd even have the time to really hang out with people...which is probably a good excuse for me to start making time for smaller cons!

For instance, I was tapped to moderate a panel at Nijifest this upcoming May, and I can't wait to experience the ins and outs of a small, queer-focused anime con! Should be a good opportunity for me to learn how to (what's the word??? Ah!) relax at a convention for a change.

It takes way more than gestures at the absolute state of everything to keep us anime fans down! It's really hard to fix everything in the world all at once, but nothing can stop us from making the most of it and being unapologetic in having what fun we can!